Training Day
by Shadowstar
Summary: Hal tries to get Snake to join Philanthropy, so Snake gives Otacon some training. [complete]
1. One Shot Wonder

"Hey, Snake, watch this!" 

Snake ducked as the Stinger missile went over his head and directly to the enemy Hind, destroying it in one shot. The VR system slowly disengaged itself and Snake found himself staring, unimpressed, at the little computer nerd. 

"That's what you wanted me to see?" 

"Isn't it cool? I destroyed it in one shot!" 

"You destroyed a Hind with one Stinger missile on the easiest mode of this VR thing you've programmed?" Snake deadpanned, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. 

"Well... but I hit it, didn't I?" 

He had a point. Hal had never been able to hit anything before, so this was an improvement. Still, it wasn't much of one. "How many times did you play it with the exact same path before you managed this? Look, Hal, it doesn't work that way in real life." 

"It's still a hit," protested Hal. "And you said that you'd consider it if I hit something." 

Snake shook his head. "If I'm not around to protect you, skills like that would get you killed." He let out a short barking laugh. "How do you expect to run that kind of NGO without being able to protect yourself?" 

Hal scowled, and it made his face look a little strange. "Mei Ling doesn't have to-" 

"Mei Ling always worked deep inside headquarters, with a whole lot of soldiers between her and the enemy. She wasn't open to attack. And as part of the military, she still did field training. You actually want to come into a dangerous situation without any fighting skills whatsoever." 

"So teach me, Snake! Teach me how to take care of myself. Half the metal gear out there is based off of my designs. I can't just sit back and do nothing!" 

"Otacon," said Snake, using Hal's codename to let him know that Snake knew he was doing something. "You're doing this hacking work while I'm here. You're providing valuable support, sending in tips to local governments-" 

"Who aren't doing anything! They don't have..." 

_An operative like Solid Snake?_ Snake gave Hal a cool gaze, daring him to finish the sentence. He'd already informed his friend that he wouldn't work with anyone he wasn't completely sure of in every way. Hal not only wanted to send Snake on missions, but he also wanted to go out on them himself. An computer nerd going out on missions? The closest Hal had gotten to killing people was in a _computer_ game. 

"They don't have the ability to do what you do. You won't go in without backup, and I don't blame you, but... Snake..." Snake gave Hal a measuring look. "You know you can't just ignore what's going on in the world." 

Snake turned. "Sure I can." 

"I've seen your face you know! When you look at those reports I send... I know you can't ignore it any more than I can. You... You look at each one as though it might be the place where your 'brothers' will be, ready to take over the free world." 

Snake frowned. It was true that he was worried. There were more and more of these reports of metal gear. If the truth were to be told, sending out reports of nuclear weapons was just causing other governmental organizations to arm themselves more heavily. 

But to go out there himself? He wasn't up for more killing. He didn't want to do it anymore. Hal didn't understand. He'd never killed anyone, at least, not directly. He'd never taken out an enemy tank, never felt that kill or be killed sense that was ever-present in real, live field work... 

Maybe that was what Hal needed to understand. It might make him give up on this whole Philanthropy business. And if he still didn't give up, then Snake would reconsider it himself. 

Some survival training might be just what Hal needed. 

"All right Hal." Snake smirked. By the time he was through with Hal, the engineer wouldn't even think of sending someone out to do the dirty work of destroying other people's lives. "I'll teach you a few things. And then, I'll give you an exam." 

Snake nodded. He already had a few ideas for this. Hal was going to remember the exam for the rest of his life. 


	2. Early Rising

Snake smirked as he carried the bucket to Hal's bed. _No, Otacon's,_ he corrected himself. If he was to be training him, it was all going to be code names. 

There he was, out like a light. Probably hadn't gotten to sleep much more than an hour ago, if he'd done his usual hacking till all hours. Well, that was all right. Snake hadn't had much sleep when they'd called him for Shadow Moses. 

Normally, people did this with water, but Snake figured that for Otacon, a load of cold coffee would be much more effective, especially as Snake wasn't going to be letting the hacker have any today. Maybe, if Snake felt especially generous, he'd let him have some Diazepam before the exam. _Ought to pay him back for all the times he's told me not to smoke... _

Snake composed his face, then growled a "Wake up!" at Otacon while throwing the coffee on him. 

Otacon spluttered and looked up in confusion at Snake. "What the hell are you doing?" He sat up, looking from side to side, then down at the bed. "You got coffee on my bed... Do you have any idea how hard it is to get coffee stains out of white sheets, if I can do it at all? And besides which, it's only..." Otacon glanced at the clock on the laptop computer beside his bed. "6 AM?" Otacon shook his head. "I'm going back to sleep, Snake." 

Snake grabbed the blanket and threw it across the room. "Wrong. Time to wake up, Otacon." 

"Snake, I only got to bed about half an hour ago." He turned over, obviously ignoring the coffee. "Good night." 

"Good morning to you too, Otacon." Okay, so Otacon thought he'd go back to sleep? Well, he wasn't the kind to play reverie... But he'd wake Otacon up. 

Snake went into his room and grabbed his Socom, removing the bullets, and went back into Otacon's room. This might be fun too... 

Snake crept up to Otacon and carefully placed the gun around his head so that it was pointed at the other man's nose. Not coincidentally, the light was pointing at a point that would spread it directly into Otacon's eyes. "Freeze!" 

Otacon's eyes fluttered open. "What are you DOING? Snake!?" 

"Don't make me drag you out of bed literally, Otacon." 

"Fine. I'll get a cup of coffee, then we can discuss whatever hair-brained thing it is you think you're doing." 

"No, you'll get out of bed and show me," Snake paused. No need to make it impossible for the poor guy. At least, not yet. A guy like Otacon couldn't possibly do his morning workout. "25 pushups, 25 sit-ups, and 25 chin-ups. You can do that last one in my room." 

Otacon sat up and stared at Snake. "You're kidding, right?" 

In response, Snake took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a nice long drag. Oh yeah, this is going to be fun. Otacon just stared for a moment at the cigarette. Just as he was about to start complaining about smoking in his room, Snake decided to speak. "Not kidding. You've got 10 seconds to start or I'll go brew a new pot of hot coffee to spill in your lap." 

There must have been something in Snake's expression that convinced Otacon that he was being entirely truthful, because 5 seconds later, the programmer was trying for a pushup. 

Otacon was up. First part of the mission was done. Now, to see how much of a workout Otacon could take before collapsing under his own weight and lack of muscles. 

"One..." Not completely wrong, but his butt was higher than his hips. "Two..." Snake could deal with that, though being wrong at the very first one was probably not going to work out. 

"Hold it, Otacon." _Give him something easier to start with._ "Tell you what, you can do 10 that are really easy, another 10 that aren't that bad, and then 5 more standard. But you've gotta do them right." Otacon looked up at him. "Get up." Otacon did. "Hands on the bed. Now, go." 

"One... two... three... f-four... f-five... s-s-six... s-sev-seven... eight... nine... t-t-t-t-ten!" 

Snake sighed. That was pretty bad, but at least the form had been right. "Okay, hands on the ground, knees on the floor. Go." Otacon went. The effort was even more pronounced. _He can't do my workout? Hell, I should get him into shape for humanitarian reasons..._

"Alright, five more. This time, real ones. Knees off the ground, bottom doesn't go higher than your hips. And no arching your back. Go." 

He watched patiently. It was taking Otacon forever. Snake shook his head. He was trying, but it was obvious that Otacon had last done training like this in a grade school gym class. And he'd probably gotten a C even then. 

"That was no good, but I'd rather not wait for you to do them all right. Think you can manage sit-ups?" 

Otacon glared at him. "Of _course_ I can do a situp, Snake." 

Snake raised an eyebrow. "Bet you would say you could do pushups, too." 

"I'm tired," protested Otacon. 

"Bend your knees, your shoulders should touch the ground after each one. Hands at your ears, have your elbows touch your knees. Go on." 

"One... two... th-th-three..." Snake closed his eyes. This was pathetic. This was the same guy who wanted to destroy enemy helicopters with one shot? This was the man who wanted to tag along on a mission one day? He wasn't going to be able to do 25 chinups either... 

"All right. Forget the rest of it. Let's go for a jog." 

"But Snake..." Snake glared at Otacon. Otacon sighed. "Why me?" 

Snake shrugged. "Try to keep up." 


	3. Socom Sojourn

"This," said Snake quietly, "is an H&K USP, .45 caliber. This is a silencer." He twisted it off. "You take it off like that, you put it on like this." He twisted it back on. "The magazine comes out like this. You reload this way. This is the safety. Off, on. Now, you try." 

He handed the gun to Otacon, who promptly yawned. Snake frowned and gave him an intimidating look. Otacon didn't even notice it, engrossed in the gun. "Like this..." He took the silencer off and then put it back on. "And like this..." He released the magazine, and had a bit of difficulty reloading, but managed it. 

"This is the sight. Aim over there." 

"Just like Counter-Strike!" 

Snake gave another withering look. "Guns are not toys, Otacon. Guns kill people." 

"I know that." Otacon looked at the array of weapons that were placed on the table. "Do you have one that doesn't kill...?" 

"They're not made to put people to sleep, you know." Snake shook his head. "Okay, here's another one. This is the M9. It's a semi-automatic. It's a double action pistol. It's not as heavy as the USP, and the range is about the same." 

"Maybe we could modify one so that it doesn't kill people..." 

"Otacon, pay attention. You're lucky I'm not making you field strip these. Single action, double action. It's got a 15 round magazine, but you can fire without the magazine. This is the safety. This one's part of the first set of them, made in Italy by Beretta." 

Otacon took the gun from Snake and looked at it carefully. "It doesn't feel lighter." Snake shrugged and watched his friend try to do what Snake had done. He got most of it, but Snake made him practice. 

"It's probably the best one for you to use, so I want to see you do it all effortlessly." Snake watched as Otacon tried over and over to do everything just the way that Snake had done. He was slow, but he was getting it done. Given some more practice, he might be able to do it. 

He was trying, at least. 

Snake showed Otacon a few more guns, but his M9 was the lightest, and had the least recoil of the ones he had. Given Otacon's strength, the M9 was probably the only one he'd be able to fire properly. A Glock 26 would be better, but he didn't have one of those on hand. 

"All right, Otacon. Get the M9, we'll go outside and I'll teach you to shoot it." 

"Couldn't we take a break? We've been going all day, Snake." 

Snake smiled predatorily at the engineer. "And it's not even close to midday. Did you think it was easy? Missions don't have lunch breaks, you know." 

Otacon stared at him. "We're not on a mission, Snake." 

_Ah. Time to start setting him up..._ "Not yet." 

"Not... yet?" 

Snake stood up. "Outside, Otacon." Snake walked out, not bothering to look over his shoulder. Otacon would follow. 

He looked around. No one lived in a place like this, so it would be safe enough to fire around here. Scare the local wildlife, but that was it. When Otacon got out, Snake promptly took the weapon from him. 

"You hold it like this. It's not like in a game or a movie: don't hold your wrist or you'll end up breaking your thumb." He held it out in a very proper two-handed grip. He wasn't going to even show Otacon how to do it with one-hand. "It's an easy gun, so you just pull the trigger." 

He demonstrated. The gun was silenced, but Otacon still jumped. "It's... pretty loud, isn't it..." 

"It's louder without the silencer." He handed the gun to Otacon. "Wait until I tell you to shoot." 

Otacon brought the gun up in a tentative approximation of Snake's position. "I'm not sure I want to do this in real life..." 

"Don't blame you." Snake corrected Otacon's position, making sure that his hands were in the right places. "You can shoot, or you can give up on this whole Philanthropy thing." 

Otacon glanced at Snake and pulled the trigger. Snake nodded. "Might be nice to aim next time." 

"Lay _off_ will you? I've only done this in VR before." 

Snake smirked. That was exactly the point of this whole thing, after all. "See if you can hit that tree over there. We're not too far away." 

After only one reload, Otacon was actually hitting the tree. Apparently, the time he'd spent in VR training had at least given him the ability to hit stationary targets. 

He was still jumping at the recoil though. 

_Well, one way out of that._

Snake smiled. 

_Time for Otacon to use a bigger gun._


	4. Hide and Seek

Otacon was really starting to get tired of the weapons work. Snake could see his eyes moving towards the kitchen every now and then, probably hoping for a coffee. Should he take pity on the programmer? 

_No... He needs to have it rough, or he'll just keep up with this idea about going on missions and starting up metal gear hunting facilities. _

Snake looked up and saw the sun, then smiled. Noon. That was about the right time to let Otacon start hiding in boxes and behind trees. Too bad he didn't have any lockers around. 

"Otacon." The programmer looked up. "Time to do something else. It's not as though your aim is improving any. I told you those video games were no substitute for the real thing." 

"Just because I like games doesn't mean I'm good at them. Look, could we take a break for a coffee or something? I'm getting a headache." 

Snake just barely kept himself from grinning uncharacteristically. Caffeine withdrawal? "Otacon, when you're on missions you can't just hop over to Starbucks." He walked over and took the gun. "It's time to do a few stealth moves. Or we'll see how much you can approximate, anyways. Come on." 

Snake went inside and placed the gun on the table. It would be safe enough there. "If I were an enemy soldier, where would you hide in this room?" 

"Under the table," replied Otacon instantly. "Just like you did those times in Shadow Moses." 

"How would you see if someone was in the next room?" 

"I'd peek around the corner." 

Snake frowned. Sounded like Otacon had been watching videos of what he'd done at Shadow Moses. "What about listening?" 

Otacon looked around a little bit sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I could do that too." 

"You need to be aware of your environment at all times. Just the wrong choice of hiding place could give you away. And with skills like yours, I wouldn't be trying to get into a fire fight." 

Otacon nodded. "Don't worry, I wouldn't try to do that. You don't even try to do that..." 

"Of course I don't. Only an idiot fights the enemy when he doesn't have to. Better to avoid them." 

"So what now? Since you won't let me have a coffee." 

"Have a cigarette." 

"Snake! Those things will kill you!" Snake chuckled and gave a meaningful glance at the guns. "Oh, come on, Snake. You know what I mean." 

"Cigarettes can be useful, Otacon. Better than coffee." Otacon rolled his eyes at that. "We're going to play hide and seek." 

Otacon stared at him for a moment before he started laughing. The laughter quickly died as Snake kept a cool gaze leveled at the engineer. "You're not serious, are you?" Snake didn't respond. "You're serious..." 

"I'll go outside. You have thirty seconds to find a good hiding place in the house." Otacon's face was priceless, a mixture of disbelief and exasperation. Snake walked outside and smirked. There probably weren't many places that Otacon would think to hide. 

For such a smart guy, Otacon wasn't that bright when it came to physical memory. He still had trouble hitting a tree within 10 meters, and each time he acted like the recoil from the gun was completely unexpected. And Snake could have walked to beat Otacon at running. How could someone like that think he could go on missions and fight terrorists and governments? 

Snake took out a cigarette and lit it. Deep drag, blow out the smoke. Repeat until finished. It was good to have a cigarette without a certain someone complaining about how it was going to earn him an early grave. Who was it trying to send him on missions? 

He tossed the cigarette to the ground and snuffed it under his foot. Otacon should be hiding by now. Snake stealthily opened the door and frowned. That was not hiding. 

Snake went back out and circled the house. There was no way he was going to let Otacon just get away with that. It was uncalled for, and against orders! He let himself in through the back entrance and snuck into the kitchen. 

He put his fingers into the shape of a gun, then crept up behind Otacon. "Freeze!" 

Otacon sat there drinking his coffee, apparently not worried about the soldier behind him. "Sorry, Snake, but I told you I needed a coffee." 

Snake growled. Otacon gulped down his coffee. "Time for another run." 


	5. Ducking Dusk

I HAVE THE POWER!!! And the internet connection to back it up! (The lights are back on here in my corner of Canada, sorry for the delay in posting this.) 

  


It was almost sundown now, and Snake was almost ready to give Otacon his final exam. They had some more time to kill though. Snake wanted the programmer to be good and tired, and thanks to the cup of coffee he'd snatched during the afternoon, Otacon was awake. Not as awake as if he'd had his usual pot, or even as awake as if he'd had a decent morning's sleep, but not as tired as Snake wanted. 

Otacon needed the real deal, and that meant he had to be exhausted, a bit hungry, a bit thirsty, and, if Snake's experiences were anything to go by, slightly hung-over. 

But what to do while they waited? It wasn't time for the exam yet, and he was going to have to knock Otacon out before that. So... combat! Could be fun to bring Otacon down another peg or two. He would have to be careful not to hurt the scientist too much though. 

Luckily, Snake had some things that they could use. It was a good thing he'd kept them for his own use. He left Otacon in his newest hiding spot, went into his room, and picked up the paintball guns. He checked them to make sure they were still in good shape, then picked up the ammunition. He loaded it into the guns, then walked back out into the main room. 

"Otacon, you're in the shower. I can see your outline in the curtain." Otacon gave a sigh, then came out. "I'd tell you to catch, but you're probably not coordinated enough for that." 

"Why are we trying to do everything in one day, Snake? Surely even you didn't master everything that fast." 

Snake shrugged. "_You've_ got something to prepare for. Here," he said, handing one of the pistols to Otacon. "These work just as simply as the M9. You don't have any extra paintballs, so you don't need to know how to reload them. We're going to go outside and fire them at each other. Use everything you learned today, and see if you can hit me even once. It's not too likely, but you might be able to do it if you try." 

"Come on, Snake. We both know I wouldn't be able to hit you unless you decided to let me." 

Snake shrugged. That _was_ pretty much the case. "That's no reason not to try." 

Otacon looked despairingly at Snake. 

"I'll give you a head start. Go outside, see if you can find some cover. I'll come out, and you can try to hit me." 

"Is this really necessary, Snake? Couldn't we pick up tomorrow? I mean, it's not like I'm going on a mission tonight, right?" Snake stared blankly at Otacon. Otacon's face was starting to get a slightly panicked look that was quite amusing to Snake. "Snake?" 

"I'll give you thirty seconds, starting now." He pulled his paintball gun up to point at Otacon who stared at him blankly. "Twenty-five..." 

Otacon pulled the door closed behind him as he ran out of the house. Snake put his gun down. _I didn't think Otacon could run that fast. He must have been holding out on me while we were running before._

Snake opened the back door and walked out, surveying the area around him. Just as he'd suspected, Otacon didn't have the experience to do anything but stare at the front door. 

_If he'd gone through those VR simulations on anything but the easiest mode, he might have at least noticed the back door._ Snake smirked. And _this_ was a place that Otacon ought to know, after living here for over 4 months. Snake walked casually towards the front of the house, only to spot Otacon reaching for his gun that was somehow on the ground. 

_What is he trying to do, annoy me to death?_ Snake walked to Otacon, who was still fumbling in the snow for his gun. "This isn't something I taught you, but showing the enemy you're so incompetent that you can't even hold onto your gun might work if you're lucky." 

Otacon looked up. "Snake, you know I can't do this..." 

Snake shrugged. "Your point?" Snake pointed the gun at Otacon's leg and pulled the trigger. The engineer squeaked out a protest, and Snake smirked. "You've been killed at least five times, but I think you should pick up your gun and try running into the trees before I shoot you again." 

Otacon grumbled, but got up and ran off into the trees. Snake shook his head impatiently and walked casually into the trees himself. He walked around a little, prolonging the exercise, when he finally heard a shout from Otacon and painballs started flying towards him. 

Snake ducked behind a tree, counted to three, then jumped out of hiding, shooting Otacon in the chest. "Ow!" shouted the engineer. 

"Ow?" Snake shook his head. "You didn't even splatter me. Let's try that again." 

"I think you've proved your point Snake, I'm no good at this!" Otacon looked almost in tears from the frustration. 

Snake shook his head. "We're done when I say we're done." Otacon stared at him. Snake frowned. _This is no good._ He shot Otacon in the arm. 

"What the hell was that for? You're not supposed to shoot me until I've gone somewhere!" 

"I'm not training you to fight members of Greenpeace. I'm training you so that you have a chance against real soldiers who don't tell you they'll give you a head start." 

"You're not training me at all, you're slaughtering me!" 

"Matter of opinion." Snake took aim again, but didn't fire. Otacon ducked behind a tree. 

"This isn't fair!" 

"Because you're losing?" 

"You've done this for years! How am I supposed to win?" 

Snake grinned. "You're not." 

"Oh yeah? Fine then." 

_Oooh, he sounds angry. Good. Might finally get his adrenaline pumping and make him stop whining._ Snake put his back to the tree Otacon was hiding behind and slowly began making his way around it. 

Just before he got to where he felt Otacon would be though, he heard some pounding steps away, then saw a paintball fly by him. "Suicide attack!" 

Otacon was charging him, paintballs flying everywhere but at Snake. Snake took aim and shot Otacon's arms and legs, but Otacon's momentum was too great to break with that, and he crashed into Snake. 

At this point, Otacon hadn't a clue on what to do next. Snake did, and was no longer amused. He flipped Otacon so that the code-warrior was under him, then delivered a quick jab to the back of his head. 

"Lights out, Otacon." 


	6. GI Otacon

Hal awoke to the sound of gunfire. He was leaning up against a tree, paint still sticky on his clothes. Snake was crouched close to him, firing short bursts, reloading constantly. 

"Snake?" What the hell was going on? 

"Stay down!" Snake growled at him. Hal leaned farther back against the tree. "When I say, we're going to get up and run. Can you manage it?" 

Hal nodded, then realized that Snake couldn't see him. "Yes." 

"Good." There was a lull in the shooting. "Now, Otacon!" 

Hal stood up and the two of them ran for almost five minutes straight. Hal was gasping for breath when they finally ducked behind another tree. "Wh- What's going on, Snake?" 

"Something you hacked, I think. I heard them talking about metal gear information." 

"Can't be... it's untraceable!" 

"Apparently not. We have to find out who they are. We have to get rid of the mission commander. He's the only one who knows our names. He hasn't made a report yet. Hoping to get all the credit when this comes out, and besides, if he'd written a report, you'd have hacked it." 

"We can't just kill someone! We're out of there, let's just go!" 

"Do you have any family anywhere?" 

"I..." 

"If you have family, once they have your name they'll find them and use them to get at you." 

Hal paused. 

"Even if you don't, they'll go back through your life and find every person you've come into contact with. All your friends, old girlfriends... oh, sorry, you probably don't have any of that last." 

"This is no time for jokes, Snake!" 

"Relax. There should be only around 5 more guards around, plus the commander. I want you to stay put right here and I'll-" Snake cut off suddenly, head going up, eyes into the rest of the woods. He held his gun up and suddenly there was a flurry of gunshots. 

When they stopped, a soldier fell out from behind a tree. Snake coughed. "4 guards." 

Hal looked up to see a bright red stain spreading across Snake's chest. Snake fell onto his hands, his gun pressed to the ground. 

"Oh God, Snake..." 

"You'll have to complete this one, Otacon." Snake coughed again. 

"But..." 

"It's riding on you. Take the gun," said Snake, pressing the USP into Otacon's hands. "Get to the house and take them out, Otacon. You can do this." 

"I..." Otacon nodded. "Just leave it to me." 

"Remember, they aren't... they'll try to kill you... Otacon." Snake coughed again, and the strength in his arms gave out. 

"I'll bring back help, Snake. I promise." 

"Sure... kid..." Snake turned his head to the side. "Don't get killed." Snake gave a great heaving shudder, and that was that. His eyes just stayed open. 

"Snake? Snake, stop kidding around. Snake? Snake!" Otacon bit his lip and pressed himself back against the tree. He took a deep breath, then closed Snake's eyes. 

_I have to do this. For Snake._ Otacon closed his eyes. _For Snake._ He took a deep breath and held the gun close to himself, then looked around. This wasn't a game he was playing with Snake anymore. This was real life, and these guys were going to kill him if he wasn't careful. 

He was going to have to find these guys and stop them. Maybe he could do it without killing them though... If he shot their hands, so they couldn't hold a gun again, and made sure they were unconscious... 

_Who am I kidding? I can't hit anyone that accurately! The only chance I have is to get rid of them one by one. _

The very thought of actually killing someone was leaving a queasy feeling in Hal's gut. But... _For Snake._ The thought was still in his mind. His friend, dead. And it was their fault. 

No, it was his fault. He must have let himself be traced. And Snake was dead because of it. 

Otacon had to clean up the mess he'd made. He couldn't let anyone else be hurt: old family and friends weren't completely non-existent. He either had to die or kill this commander before he made a report. 

Snake was dead. Otacon had to do this. _For Snake._

He stood up and darted between the trees, trying to listen for any sounds. At one point he heard something: two guards talking to each other, murmuring phrases that Otacon couldn't quite understand. Otacon stood with his back against the tree as the voices got closer. 

He was only going to have one shot. Well, two. He was going to have to hope that they passed him, and then he was going to have to shoot them both. Point blank. 

_For Snake._

He waited patiently as the two came closer and closer to his position, then they passed him. Swallowing hard, he took aim and fired. 

BANG! BANG! 

The blood sprayed back at him and the two men fell. Otacon felt sick, but there was no time for that. Snake had said four guards left, plus the commander. 

So now there were three against one. 

Otacon kept going between the trees. Hopefully, the other guards were on the other side of the house. Snake had said the commander was inside. 

Once he'd gotten to the house, he tried peeking in the windows, but to no avail. There was nothing he could see. The commander must be in his room with his computers. 

Otacon carefully opened the door and crept in. He tried to listen, but there were no sounds coming from any of the rooms, at least, none that he could hear. 

Otacon took a deep breath to steady himself, then peeked around into his room. He could see the usual mess of computer wires, but nothing else. He crept slowly into the room. 

He looked at his computer, which was scrolling through a thousand lines of code. He pressed a button to stop it, then felt something cold and hard against his head. 

And then, nothing. 


	7. Post Mortem

"You did better than I expected," said Snake. 

"What happened? Are you really alive? Am I dead?" asked Hal. 

"Not unless you keep asking stupid questions." 

Hal kept looking around in confusion until he finally seemed to notice the VR equipment around him. "That... that was a VR mission?" 

"And you did better than I thought you would. You killed two of them, and were in the same room as the commander, even if he _did-_" 

"Hey! You can't program this kind of thing, and I _know_ I've never programmed that scenario-" 

"I got some help from Mei Ling. You should thank her for being so thorough." 

"Are you crazy? I thought you were dead! How could you _do_ that to me?" 

Snake shrugged. "Look, Otacon, it wasn't any worse than what you might have happen to you on a mission. And you did pretty well, for... well, for you. You managed to keep going, despite being tired and terrified. You managed to get pretty close to your target before you got yourself killed." 

"But-" 

"And so, I'm willing to consider it." 

"What? Consider what?" 

"Philanthropy." 

Hal blinked at Snake for a moment. "You are? I mean, you're not just saying that, are you?" 

"Hal, have _you_ changed your mind?" 

"Of course not! I'll tell you everything about it!" Hal said with an excited look on his face. 

Three hours later, Snake was finally able to interject and stop Hal's long-winded explanation of Philanthropy with a quick, "I'll join, all right? Anything to stop this!" 

Hal, being ecstatic about Snake agreeing, decided to continue yammering on until the wee hours of the morning when Snake finally just decided to leave the room. Snake suspected that even this had not stopped Hal, so he shut the door to his room tightly, got in his bed, and closed his eyes. 

It seemed the day training Otacon would only be the first of many. 

_I hope Otacon can survive it,_ thought Snake with a chuckle, then fell asleep. 

In the other room, Hal beamed. He'd made it through Snake's day, gotten Snake onboard with the Philanthropy group, and now, he was about to have a coffee. 

_Life is sweet,_ thought Hal with a smile. He took a sip of his coffee, then made a number of quick inputs into the virtual reality computer. Snake was going to have a bit of a surprise the next time Hal managed to get him into the VR programs. _And revenge is even sweeter..._

  


_(The end...?)_

  
**Author's Notes**

Hello! I thought I'd just write some notes on the entire story here. It's short enough that I don't think they need to be interspersed throughout the fic. 

First, a big thank you to everyone who reviewed:   
Scarbie: I hope it lived up to its potential (I hate wasted potential!)   
Akaisakura: Ooh, the author of the Elevator! Thanks for the good characterizations comment!   
Solidchristian-88: Glad you thought it was funny!   
Nicky: Thanks for the comment 

Let's see. This story had about 3 hours of research. First hour was spent on finding out correct forms for excercises. Do you know that no one has anything on correct posture for a pull up? Must be why Snake and Raiden do them so differently. The other two hours were spent researching guns. I am not a gun person, but I think I managed. I always like doing research for fics because you always find out such interesting things. And Metal Gear just has oodles of weapons research needs, which is better than finding little known Meiji-era Tokyo laws... 

This was a tryout of the most interesting system I've seen for writing a story. Basically, the story was written completely before I put anything online. Then, I just posted one a day. It's a good system for me, and I'm going to keep using it. It makes sure the story actually ends. Unlike Want and Need. I think it worked out well. Anyhow, that's why it seemed to be written with a chapter a day. I'm not sure that I _really_ worked that fast. Of course, the great eastern seaboard shut down killed me a bit, but even so... 

It was also the first try from me at something funny (I tend to be a little over-dramatic, I think), but hopefully it was enjoyable. There was a guy helping me out from a message board on chapter 5. He should write something like this fic, but the supremely funny version he was talking about, if he ever reads this. You know who you are! 

Is there another story in this? Might be... even I'm not sure what kind of deviousness Hal would put in a VR mission for Dave to find at just the right time... If people DO want to see a follow-up, tell me and I'll see what I can do. 

Oh, and I forgot disclaimers throughout this. I don't think anyone minds, since it's obvious I'm neither Kojima nor a high level Konami employee, though if they'd like to hire me, I HAVE graduated from computer science! At any rate, I'm not making any money from this. 


End file.
